Andean Group - April 2011 (ISSN 1741-4466)
POLITICS & DIPLOMACY: Correa riles Mexicans
“We are not in the same situation as Mexico, where whole swathes of territory are controlled by drug cartels; here we are fighting them and we are having success". This remark, by President Rafael Correa, was designed to show that his government was keeping a lid on drug-related violence in Ecuador. The collateral damage, however, was felt in Mexico City where the foreign ministry let its displeasure be known. Desperate to reduce diplomatic tension, Ecuador's foreign ministry rushed out a statement which essentially claimed that Correa had not said what he had said. Correa later said the Mexican reaction was “exaggerated" but “understandable" given “pressure" from the US.
Correa made the diplomatically inapposite comparison with Mexico on 24 March
after the capture of nine alleged members of a drug-trafficking and
money-laundering network linked to the Sinaloa cartel, among them Mexicans,
Colombians and Ecuadoreans. The arrests were made in the coastal city of
Guayaquil under “Operación Pacífico", carried out with the cooperation of
Ecuadorean and Mexican authorities.
“Ecuador continues to be an
island of peace in Latin America, as regards drugs production, despite the
recent arrest of people linked to the Sinaloa cartel," Correa said. He conceded
that “drug cartels are functioning in the country [Ecuador]" but added that they
did not dominate whole territories as in Mexico. He went on to imply that
Ecuador was geographically challenged by virtue of being sandwiched between
Colombia and Peru, “the biggest producers of cocaine in the world".
The Mexican ambassador in Quito, Ernesto Campos, said he was “surprised" - diplomatic parlance for “annoyed" - by Correa's comments as “no criminal organisation controls any territory". The Mexican foreign ministry also sent a diplomatic note to Ecuador conveying its “surprise" at Correa's “imprecise" remarks. It added that the authorities in Mexico were engaged “in a frontal fight day to day precisely to ensure that no space is ceded to organised crime".
Ecuador's foreign ministry wasted no time in putting out a statement recognising the “enormous efforts" of Mexico in confronting drug-trafficking and insisting that Correa's comments were “directed against drug-trafficking and organised crime_and not friendly governments". This appeared to placate the Mexicans but Correa was determined to speak for himself. A day later, he said that the Mexican reaction had been “a bit exaggerated but understandable". He said he could understand the pressure that Mexico was under from the US, whose congress, he said, had labelled Mexico a “failed state_ with the abuse that North-Americans always commit, assuming the functions of planetary judges". He said his words had been used to create an incident.
Whether the Mexicans overreacted is a moot point; the whole issue of security is understandably incredibly sensitive in Mexico and it did not help that Correa's comments come just as there seems to be a growing froideur between Mexico's President Felipe Calderón and US President Barack Obama.
Correa went on to describe Calderón as “my good friend", who he said in passing, was coming to Ecuador on 7 and 8 July (this is so far only tentative and has not been officially confirmed). His initial comments, however, might well have contributed to Calderón's defensive and candid interview with the Spanish daily El País published on 27 March. Calderón pointed out that Mexico “works", with three strong and independent branches of government, which stage regular elections, and where there is absolute freedom of the press even involving subjects that are uncomfortable for the government, such as the rising insecurity.
Calderón did not mention any specific names but more than one political commentator in Ecuador took this to be an indirect criticism of left-leaning governments in the region - including Correa's. This, just as the Correa administration is preparing to stage a referendum on 7 May to introduce a series of constitutional reforms, which will concentrate more power in the hands of the executive at the expense of the judiciary, ostensibly to tackle judicial corruption which the government argues is contributing to rising insecurity as organised crime is able to bribe judges. The referendum also proposes much tighter restrictions on media ownership, which the national press, unsurprisingly, objects to on the grounds that it is merely intended to muzzle the free press (see page 12).
Mexico's deputy foreign minister, Rubén Beltrán, visited Quito days after the spat for talks with his Ecuadorean counterpart, Kintto Lucas, and to update a bilateral cooperation agreement against drug-trafficking and organised crime, which dates back to 1993. In a joint statement, both countries pointedly recognised the efforts carried out by the other in the fight against organised crime and reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen joint cooperation in this area. Both men specifically discussed improving judicial cooperation, port control and efforts to combat money-laundering and reduce the demand for drug consumption.
Prior to leaving Mexico City, Beltrán was keen to emphasise, like Calderón, that Mexico receives a very bad press when it comes to violent crime. He said that Mexico was actually in the middle of the Latin American league table for violent deaths per 100,000 of the population, and that of the 34,000 registered in the last four years, 70% had occurred in 93 municipalities -Mexico has over 2,000 municipalities.
Beltrán was also keen, however, to downplay any tension with Ecuador, insisting that bilateral relations were “very rich, productive and constructive and very good". Lucas also sought to repair ties with Mexico by asserting that Ecuador would champion Mexico's cause as it seeks to become an associate member of the fledgling Union of South American Nations (Unasur). Beltrán said that Mexico was keen to be involved in Unasur, stressing that “in essence we are Latin American".
Ties with Colombia improve
In the same week that
Ecuador's ties with Mexico suffered a little wobble, President Correa stressed
that relations between Ecuador and Colombia were going through “an excellent
phase". Full diplomatic ties were restored on 26 November. “Let's not forget
that President Juan Manuel Santos was the defence minister who directed the
bombing of our country but he has apologised on various occasions," Correa said.
“Colombia has undertaken not to repeat such a barbarity."
Correa said that Santos had handed over information related to the cross-border
incursion as promised since his investiture last August. “There is seriousness,
there is coherence," Correa said, adding that bilateral projects such as the
bi-national border commission (Combifron) were up and running again. Correa is
scheduled to visit Bogotá on 3 and 4 May to meet Santos, who was keen to stitch
up relations through bilateral channels with Ecuador swiftly so he could devote
his energies to the more perennially problematic issue of diplomatic relations
with Venezuela.
Days after Correa's remarks, Ecuador's
provincial court of Sucumbíos, near the site of the bombing of the Fuerzas
Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) camp on 1 March 2008, provisionally
dismissed Santos from an on-off judicial process because he enjoys immunity as
Colombia's head of state. This means Santos will now be able to travel to Quito
safe in the knowledge that there is no chance of his being suddenly arrested
(see sidebar).
- Sinaloa
- Santos case